The
fastest dial up Internet signals can travel
There
is a limit as to how much electric power is used to transmit
analog signals over conventional telephone lines. The federal
communications commission imposed a power limit to prevent a
phenomenon known as "cross talk". If you've ever
talked on the
phone
and heard someone else faintly talking or a fax tone in the
background,
thats cross talk. If too much power were used
during data transmission
, "cross talk" would increase between adjacent phone lines.
As a result
additional erroneous data would be created during
transmission and
defeat the purpose of increasing signal strength to
achieve a
higher
dial
up connection
speed. This signal to noise ratio is known
as
Shannon's limit.
Assuming all computers,
modems, telephone lines etc are working flawlessly,
Shannon's
limit
for computers communicating with each other over a
dial up
network is
56k. No one ever achieves 56k dial up modem speed. Its more of a starting point.
Telephone
line noise
Therein lies
another problem. Nothing works flawlessly especially a dial
up connection. There are always
other factors
beyond control that
influence dial
up connection
speed. The act of
transmitting data
over a phone line will create telephone line noise.
Converting data from
analog to digital creates telephone line noise. Overall telephone line
quality, if
they are cracked or wet. .When a computer dials up to an
Internet
service
provider they negotiate then agree (known as a
"handshake") to a dial up connection speed based on existing
line conditions .
Computers will
lower their dial up connection speed to create a
more
stable connection rather than a fast one.
Distance
from phone company
Living
far from the phone company can effect
dial
up connection
speed just because
there is that much more telephone line between you and them. Distance
may have also effected how the phone company built its network. If
residences are too far from the phone company the phone signal will
degrade in quality due to line noise. The signal will also become weak
and very difficult to hear due to diminished signal strength. It would
be necessary for the phone company to amplify the phone signal before
it gets to your house. That amplifier is known as a repeater or line
repeater. Line repeaters extend the reach of the phone company to its
customers. Once the originating phone signal is amplified it can be
split and sent to several different residences. Unfortunately any
distortions get amplified and distributed as well. An amplified phone
signal is inherently flawed. That is why the maximum
attainable
dial up connection
speed on an amplified signal is 33.6k
or less depending
on
originating signal quality.
Custom Search
